Detailed logs and abstracts of incoming congressional mail plus carbon copies of outgoing correspondence arranged alphabetically by the name of the Representative or Senator.

QUANTITY
37.6 linear feet (ca. 75,200 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-56 and 77-107)

ACCESS
Open. Some items are temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by William McNitt, June 1984
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INTRODUCTION

The Congressional Relations Office received and responded to dozens of letters addressed to the President from members of Congress each day. To control this mail and allow for easy reference, the Congressional Relations staff created a single centralized file of logs of incoming mail and copies of their outgoing letters. Copies of congressional letters drafted by other White House offices were often added to the file.

Although the Congressional Relations Office occasionally wrote letters of substance to members of Congress or drafted such letters for the President's signature, the bulk of the letters in this collection are routine in nature. Many are simple acknowledgements that a letter had been received and referred to another White House office or agency for a reply. Other letters responded to routine requests for information or assistance, acknowledged personnel recommendations, transmitted pens used in bill signing ceremonies, or thanked members of Congress for their votes in support of the President.

Although this collection contains logs of incoming congressional mail, it includes few copies of the letters themselves. Researchers will usually find it more fruitful to consult the White House Central Files, which includes copies of incoming and outgoing congressional mail and some of the mail logs. To ensure seeing all correspondence between the White House and a particular member of Congress however, one should consult both collections.

Related Materials
(June 1984)
The files of William Timmons, Max Friedersdorf, and others of the Congressional Relations Office are closely related.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Log of Incoming Mail by Name, 1974-77.
(Boxes 1‑6, 2.4 linear feet)Short summaries of each letter received by the President from a member of Congress.

Subdivided into Senate and House sequences and arranged thereunder by name of the member of Congress.

Log of Incoming Mail by Date, 1974-77. (Boxes 7‑10, 1.3 linear feet)
Daily reports submitted to the President by the Assistant to the President for Congressional Relations summarizing each letter received from a member of Congress. Note: The originals of these reports can be found in White House Files categories FG 31 (for August 1974 - June 1975) and WH 4-1 (for the rest of the administration) with occasional annotations by the President.

Log of Mail Pending a Response, 1974-76.
(Box 10, 0.2 linear feet)A log of congressional letters to the President which were referred to White House staff or agency officials for a draft response. Included are copies of "reminders" of overdue drafts.

Log of Outgoing Presidential Letters by Name, 1974-76.
(Box 10, 0.1 linear feet)A log listing letters from the President to members of Congress with annotations to note which were bill signing pen letters, letters re legislative votes, or campaign letters.

Arranged by year, then subdivided into House and Senate, then alphabetical by name.

Outgoing Correspondence by Name, 1974-77.
(Boxes 10‑74, 25.6 linear feet)Carbon copies and photocopies of letters to members of Congress, with a few to congressional candidates or persons not connected with Congress. Most of these letters were signed by the staff of the Congressional Relations Office, but presidential letters and letters from other White House staff and agency officials to members of Congress are also included. Only occasional incoming letters are included.

The main portion of the series is subdivided into Senate and House sequences and thereunder arranged alphabetically by name of the member of Congress. The last box of the series contains separate alphabetical sequences for letters to congressional staff members and other individuals who were not members of Congress (for 1974 and 1976-77, but 1975 is missing) and letters endorsing congressional candidates in the 1976 election.

Outgoing Correspondence by Date, 1974-77.
(Boxes 75‑92, 7.2 linear feet)Carbon copies of letters from the staff of the Congressional Relations Office to members of Congress or congressional candidates, with occasional letters from the President. No incoming letters are attached.

Most of this series is arranged in a single chronological sequence, but small chronological files of bill signing pen letters, congressional candidate endorsement letters, presidential letters (only for 1974 and 1977), and letters concerning congressional votes (only for 1976) appear at the end of this series.

Office of Management and Budget Congressional Mail, 1974-75.
(Boxes 93‑94, 0.8 linear feet)Carbon copies of letters from OMB to members of Congress, with occasional copies of the incoming letters attached. These copies were apparently sent to the Congressional Relations Offices on a regular basis for informational purposes. No letters for the period after May 1975 have been found.